Questions Answered by the Expert (Part 1 of 2)

Here is Part 1 of our Ask the Expert promotion from the beginning of the week! Answering questions this week is Maria Adams, MS, RD, MPH is a registered dietitian with over 10 years experience in the field of nutrition.

How much of a role does sodium intake play? Do the recommended amounts change according to your weight? I am on a plateau and wondering if I need to reduce most salty foods.Eating high amounts of sodium can lead to fluid retention, which translates into weight gain on the scale. However this weight gain is just fluid and not body fat.
The recommended amounts of sodium do not change according to your weight. The guidelines for sodium intake are based on age, ethnicity, and whether or not you have high blood pressure. The Dietary Guidelines recommend eating less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day for most people; people with high blood pressure, African Americans, middle-aged and older adults should consume no more than 1,500 mg per day.
If your weight loss seems to have hit a plateau, cutting back on salty foods may help you lose another couple of pounds, but it would only be water weight, not fat. That said, if you are retaining excess fluid, a low salt diet can help you feel less bloated and, even more importantly, may lower your blood pressure.

I struggle with natural vs. artificial. Am I better to use butter and real sugar in an occasional recipe or use the imitation butter and Splenda? Which is healthier? I see so much conflicting research on this? I’d appreciate your thoughts on this matter.Splenda, also called sucralose, is made from regular sugar, but is 600 times sweeter. It cannot be digested, absorbed, or metabolized for energy, so it doesn’t increase blood sugar or calorie intake. The FDA approved its use in 1998, and current research suggests it is safe. However, more studies are needed to learn the long-term effects of sucralose.
My advice is rather than using artificial sweeteners and imitation butter, go ahead and have an occasional treat made with real sugar and butter—just cut back on portion size and frequency. When baking, you can try experimenting with using a little less sugar, substituting applesauce for some of the butter, or using canola oil in place of some or all of the butter. But in general, you will find that most baked goods need a certain amount of sugar and fat. You should avoid using margarine with trans fat or vegetable shortening. Trans-free tub margarines are okay to use; they are lower in saturated fat than regular butter, but they generally contain the same amount of calories and may not produce as delicious of a flavor as butter would.
While non-nutritive sweeteners such as sucralose can be part of a healthful diet in moderation, it is even better to try and reduce your body’s craving for sweets. Start with switching to plain water over other beverages such as juice or diet soda. If you put sugar in your coffee, try to wean yourself off of it. Read food labels and skip foods that contain artificial sweeteners or have sugar listed as the first or second ingredient. That way you still have room for the occasional treat, but you are not consuming sweetened foods throughout the day.

Why can’t I tolerate beef anymore? I started eating healthier by eating chicken and fish. Now when I eat an occasional beef dish, I’m bloated, gassy and have a general overall feeling of yuckiness?Beef can be high in fat content, and in general contains more fat than chicken and fish. Foods high in fat take longer to leave your stomach, leaving them more time to ferment and produce gas. This can also leave you gassy and feeling more bloated. When you do eat beef, try choosing the leanest cuts, such as top sirloin, and trim any visible fat before cooking. Choose low-fat cooking methods, such as grilling, broiling, or stir-frying, and make sure your portion is small, four ounces or less.

How important is the glycemic index when choosing foods?The glycemic index (GI) rates how much a carbohydrate-containing food affects the body’s blood sugar levels. GI can be helpful for people with prediabetes and diabetes. When combined with exercise, a diet with a low GI can be effective at improving their blood sugar levels and insulin response, more so than a regular diet would. Research also suggests that following a diet that is moderately higher in protein and moderately lower in GI, can lead to better maintenance of weight lost than diets lower in protein and higher in glycemic index.
However, for people who are trying to just lose weight, adhering to a low glycemic index diet is not necessarily going to lead to more weight loss than any other diet. It can also be harder to follow. While you may be able to figure out the approximate GI of one particular food, when it’s combined with another food, the response will change. So if you eat a low GI food such as milk with a high GI food such as cornflakes, you get a moderate GI response. It’s also not always obvious which foods are low or high in GI. An apple, for example, has a low GI, but a carrot has a high GI.

Maria will return next week for Answers by the Expert (Part 2 of 2) that will give you a detailed look into each Macronutrient that Lose It! allows you to track! As always, comments are welcomed and encouraged!

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Disclaimer:
This advice is intended for informational use only. Always consult your physician or other qualified health care professional regarding questions or concerns about your health and before making any changes to your diet or exercise regime.

About Maria:
Maria Adams, MS, RD, MPH is a registered dietitian with over 10 years experience in the field of nutrition. She studied nutrition at Cornell University and then pursued her graduate studies at Tufts University, where she earned a dual masters degree in public health and nutrition communication. Maria has worked as a clinical dietitian in a hospital setting and as a health writer and editor. Maria and a colleague from Tufts University, Krisha McCoy, run CooksAid, a website that helps people plan and cook healthful dinners. When she is not experimenting in the kitchen, Maria enjoys training for sprint triathlons, and most of all, spending time with her husband and two boys.

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4 Replies to “Questions Answered by the Expert (Part 1 of 2)”

Absolutely love this program, I have had difficulty losing 10 lbs for the last couple years, until using your program. I exercise a lot (5 times per week), but it wasn’t until I counted my calories that I could get control. Your program makes it very easy to keep track….. Keep it up!
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Thanks

It’s funny how the author recommends using sugar over splenda, and then provides one link confirming the safety of splenda and another link that again confirms the safety of splenda while recommending to cut back on sugar.

The statement “more studies are needed to learn the long-term effects of sucralose” (splenda) could equally apply to sugar.

Everyone seems to think that because sugar is “natural” then it’s better. Actually, most people use refined white sugar, which does not occur naturally. Chewing on a sugar cane, has a far different metabolic effect on your body than normal table sugar.

While I agree that the best recommendation is limiting your intake of sweet things period which can help reduce cravings for them, it seems that the sugar over splenda recommendation is merely an opinion not based on facts. Show me the research that demonstrates limited sugar consumption is safer than limited splenda consumption.

Perhaps the author, like so many others, is biased against artificial sweeteners because of some early and now discredited research that initially linked saccharin to cancer.

Read _Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It_ by Gary Taubes. If you want more science (or are a doctor or nutritionist yourself), then read _Good Calories, Bad Calories_. You’ll get a far better understanding of this subject – an understanding that most doctors and nutritionists are lacking.